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There’s a good chance you have already seen Lexmark’s Print Less, Save More campaign, as visualised by a pig, cheetah and frog. Since the end of March, the origami animals have featured in online and press advertising and been displayed prominently on poster sites in the UK’s national railway stations, retai parks and the London Underground.

The three characters represent the savings in money, time and the environment that can be achieved by taking control of office printing and implementing the waste reduction measures that underpin Lexmark’s Print Less, Save More initiative. The fact that the pig, cheetah and frog are made out of paper is appropriate. Not just because Lexmark is a printer company. But also because it demonstrates the versatility of paper, which remains unsurpassed as a medium for publishing, sharing and absorbing information. Growing concern about the environmental impact of the production and disposal of paper and the high levels of consumption in developed nations should not obscure paper’s many qualities and its continued importance to consumers and businesses all sizes. However, it equally true th have been cava printing habits many pages ar

unnecessarily, adding to an organisation’s costs, administrative burden and carbon footprint. Developments in office printing technologies mean that it is now relatively easy to reduce paper consumption by up to 30-40% whilst still using paper to develop and communicate ideas, build relationships and process information.

This is what Lexmark’s Print Less,

the information they need in a flexible, versatile medium that they like and are familiar with, but without the waste associated with conventional printing practices.

First steps

There are dozens of steps that anyone can take to reduce the environmental and financial cost of printing, starting with automatic two-sided (duplex) printing, which on its own will help reduce paper consumption by up to 30-40%. This will have the greatest environmental benefit, as paper use is by far the largest element of a printer’s carbon footprint, accounting for up to 80% of the climate change impact of a high volume workgroup device (see box). Our microsite, www.printless.co.uk, lists many other ways to cut paper consumption, make consumables

last longer and save energy. It is well worth a visit, not least because veryone who ill be entered into w to win an Apple MacBook. Business users can register to receive a free How to Print Less, Save More guide.

Old habits

Websites and guides are a great way of prompting people to adopt more sustainable printing practices, but good intentions are rarely enough to effect a revolution in office printing and without a clear printing strategy organisations soon find that old habits return. Lexmark has developed a number of tools to help customers make sure that this doesn’t happen. These range from print drivers that can be used to restrict access to printer features, enforce printer settings (e.g. duplex) or apply print

In our experience of working with the world’s leading businesses, implementing a Secure Print strategy has the second greatest impact on print volumes after setting two-sided printing as the default. This is because busy offices workers often press Print and then forget to pick up the output, or find that when they go to the printer their pages have been removed or become mixed up, necessitating re-printing.

With Secure Print, a print job is sent from the user’s PC to a server, where it is held until the user has identified himself at any printer on the network (by swipecard, proximity card or PIN), at which point it is released and printed. This eliminates waste from repeat and unnecessary printing, whilst preserving the confidentiality of documents.

In-house colour

Another example of how using the latest print technologies to tackle waste can bring real improvements to business efficiency is in-house colour printing. The ability to print marketing material in vibrant, eye-catching colour on a wide variety of materials, including environmentally friendly options, such as 100% recycled paper or lighter (65 or 70gsm) paper stocks, allows businesses to respond more quickly to business opportunities and minimises the need to pre-print material that can become out of date and need to be thrown away before use. This is most relevant in retail where today’s climate is one where the ability to react quickly to a competitive situation is key (e.g. price movements). Due to the way offset print is charged – a high upfront cost, with small increments for additional volume – there is a tendency to order longer print runs than is necessary, creating more waste and increasing the demand

Natural sele

In a world geared towards the survival of the afford to pay the financial and environmenta and wasteful printing infrastructure?

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